Waking Up to a New Nightmare(OverLordy's Breathless continued!)
by TheUnknownRenegade
Summary: "Like that one time you were scoping up in a tree for game and you slipped and plummeted ten feet. When you hit the ground, all the breath rushed from your lungs. "Our male tribute for the 80th Hunger Games is... Karkat Vantas!"" AU, mentions of Alternia. I hope this is alright to do! If it needs to be pulled down, it will be! Rated T for language, mostly Karkat's mouth.


**I have no idea if I have the proper permission to continue this. Dx But I hope I can get it! I just love the story sooo much! And to find out that the last time it was updated was in 2011…*sniffle***

**I'll try not to fuck this up, guys. I probably will, but I will try. Reviews, comments, and anything of the sort would be appreciated. Even suggestions. Liiiiike, who should it be: Gamkar or Solkat? o.o Because I just love both and uurrrgghh…**

**Welp, here goes nothing. Chapter Seven, everybody. And if needed, I will take this down. I have no problem with it. I hate my writing anyway, hehe.**

Previously-

"W-what are you doin'? Back the fuck up," you hear Eridan snarl. You're low enough were you can see what's happening. Abel smacks Eridan's harpoon out of his hands, and it clutters to the floor. You're half-tempted to just leave him and abscond away from the Careers, but you do owe him.

"Say goodbye, fish boy," you hear Abel snarl. You hit the ground silently, and take out your sickles.

"Hey, fucker," you call, standing up tall. You see the other four whip around in surprise, staring at you. "I didn't get to properly thank your melodramatic ass earlier, did I? Well, I guess now is the time," you say, and you run forward, slamming your elbow into Abel's exposed side.

You're aware of him swearing his mouth off. You snatch up Eridan's harpoon and toss it to him.

"Let's get the fuck out of here," you snap, and you quickly abscond. Eridan hot on your heels.

"I didn't need your fuckin' help," you hear. You don't look back, as you're aware that the other tributes are hot on your trail. "You should hav-ve just stayed in your tree. I could hav-ve stopped them," he snaps. You roll your eyes.

"Here," you snap, and you dive into a dense thicket. Eridan dives in behind you. You hear the Careers thunder past.

You wait five minutes after they travel out of earshot, before picking yourself up. Eridan stumbles clumsily out of the bushes after you. You turn towards him, ready to tell him off for being loud, when you look down and see his harpoon aimed right for your heart.

"W-what the hell are you tryin' to pull? I know-w I sav-ved your life back at the Cornucopia, but I didn't expect you to return the fav-vor," he snarls. You roll your eyes, roughly pushing the tip of his harpoon away.

"You're fucking grateful. Stop being so pissy and accept it. I'm not the kind of person to sit by and just let someone who helped me die," you growl. "By the way, what possessed you to save my life?" you snap.

Eridan stares at you thoughtfully. "Honestly, I hav-ve no fuckin' idea. It w-was just an impulse. Something nagged at me to sav-ve your life," he says with a shrug. "It w-was like that w-with Fef and Kan, too. I just couldn't let them die, for some reason."

You stare at him disbelievingly, then sigh. "Right. Well, I don't trust you enough not to fucking stab me in my sleep with your giant toothpick, so this is where we part. Good luck, asshat," you say, and turn, stomping off in the opposite direction. You can hear Eridan behind you.

"Hey- Kar, w-wait!" he calls. He catches up to you, and you glare at him.

"Leave me the fuck alone, you shit-stain. I'm not in the mood," you growl. Hurt appears for

a split second in his purple eyes, before it disappears.

"W-well, you're already stuck w-with me. Fuckin' deal w-with it, you're the one who sav-ved my life," he says with a smirk. You growl under your breath.

"Fucking fuck, fine. Just stay quiet, alright?" you snarl, resuming your stomping, only

much angrier than before. You're faintly aware of Eridan following you.

The two of you walk in silence. Dawn breaks, the birds start singing, and you feel very shitty and irritable. A cannon suddenly fires, scaring the piss out of you and Eridan.

"W-woah! Who do you think died?" Eridan asks curiously. You shrug.

"Hopefully no one we know," you mutter beneath your breath, running a hand through your hair.

You and Eridan have a breakfast of beef jerky. You're reluctant, but you end up sharing your canteen.

"If this is going to happen, we need to look out for water," you say. Eridan blinks.

"There's a waterfall off east. We can go there," he says with a shrug. You return the shrug, deciding to trust his judgement and heading off in said direction.

By the time you reach the waterfall, it's about noon. One other cannon had fired during your trek. You'll find out at the end of the day who died.

The waterfall is beautiful. The water cascades downwards in a deafening roar, spraying you and Eridan with fresh water. You fill up your canteen at the pool collecting below it, drinking up happily.

You feel Eridan tap your shoulder, and you turn and glare at him. "What the fuck is it, assha-"

You stop, locking your eyes upon the indigo ones that stare lazily back at you. It's Gamzee.

You look at Gamzee, both eyebrows raised. Eridan is looking at him too, but more skeptical than your surprised gaze. You open your mouth to speak, only to be quieted by the tallest boy's finger over your lips, telling you to be quiet as he points up. You look.

How did you not notice this before? There were other tributes asleep in the trees above you, and you were cursing your fucking head off to the point where if your tone had raised just a bit more, you would take an arrow to the knee. God, why did I just use that overused piece of bullshit?

I don't know. You don't know either. All you know is that you seriously need to pay attention to your surroundings.

You were still unsure of this Gamzee kid, though. Was he here to attack you both? No, he looked too mellow for that, and if he was, he would've killed you both when your heads were turned. You could never imagine Gamzee being a killing type, even for his own survival, even though you've "known" him for a few days tops. To forge an alliance? Did Gamzee even know about alliances? He seemed too caught up in his miracle bullfuckery and his odd religion to comprehend battle vocabulary.

Raising your hand, you roughly shoved the elder boy's hand away from your face, giving him a scowl to replace and cover up for your surprise. "What the fuck are you doing here?" You whisper harshly, Eridan looking at Gamzee still, nodding, as if he wanted to know the same thing.

Gamzee looked at the two of you and he smiled faintly, shaking his head and crouching down to the both of you, his arms and hands slung lazily over his knees. He brushed the dark, faintly indigo-toned hair out of his eyes and looked at you, then at Eridan, then at you again before he also raised an eyebrow, as if questioning why you two were within stabbing range of each other and you weren't trying to kill the other.

Eridan quietly sighed. "W-We sav-ved each other's liv-ves, is all. So I'm stickin' w-with him."

You nod hastily, glancing back up to the trees before back to Gamzee. "Yeah. I have a stupid ass leech on my hands, apparently he isn't going any-fucking-where."

Gamzee gave a low chuckle in reply, then he stood back up, kneeling over the water's edge and taking a canteen out of his own pack, looking at you and Eridan as if to ask if it was alright-you were the ones to find this place first. Before him, anyway.

You exchange looks with Eridan, then you both look at Gamzee and nod approvingly. We could talk about this later-you three just needed to get the hell out of there before one of the others woke up.

After Gamzee refilled his canteen and you made sure that yours was filled to the brim, the three of you set out quickly and quietly, you leading the group. You always had this leader-like aura around you, at least you thought, and you always felt that most of the time, you should be the one leading.

The three of you trekked without speaking until the sun went down. Three cannons had fired during this time, and you all set up camp. Gamzee had salvaged two tents from the Cornucopia and two packs instead of one. He had given the second pack to Eridan, who had been reluctant at first, since this was all new to him, but eventually he had accepted the gift with a few grumbles, making you smile a bit, something that you quickly covered as you started to make a fire, failing quite a few times and ending each attempt with a few distraught curses. This only gave amusement to the other two, who were setting up the tents provided.

After a fit of swearing and stomping and some yelling, as well as some advice from Eridan, the fire flickered, full of life now, at the center of the makeshift camp. You had let the others take their tents, and made yourself sleep outside in the elements, mostly because you could be woken up easily and so you could keep a lookout. At least at this point of survival, your insomnia came in handy, letting you serve the longer shift during the period of sleep.

The three of you were spread out in your sleeping bags on the forest floor, markers tagged faintly along the trees so you could know the way back to the waterfall from there if necessary. Daylight was fading, and you could feel the air's warmness grow colder, making you shiver a bit. It just got colder and colder, and you could've sworn it could've started snowing at this rate. Maybe your thin frame just couldn't handle the cold too well, and the thin clothes weren't helping that much either. You were sitting up near the flames, looking up at the sky, expecting to see the results, or the deaths, come around soon.

Apparently your shivering and your soft teeth clacking were noticeable, because the next thing you knew there was a blanket being draped around your shoulders. You heard a faint snoring and recognized Eridan's mumbling as he slept. So the only other one who could've done so was Gamzee. So you look up, and there he is, giving you a lazy smile and ruffling your hair as if you were some long-time friend. You shy away from his hand, giving him a look that said "why-the-fuck-are-you-touching-me" before you sighed softly, pulling the blanket around you and relaxing some. Gamzee sat down next to you, and you both look up to the sky once more, not speaking for a while.

In that time of silence, you learn that a male tribute from District 3 had died, as well a female tribute from District 6 and another male tribute from District 2. None of them you knew. Just then, when you thought it was over, another cannon fired off, and you learn seconds later it was Gamzee's District partner. You look over to him to see how he reacted, and he was chewing on his lower lip, frowning and mumbling something you couldn't understand.

"Motherfuckin'…four in one day, brother…" He looked at you, frowning deeper. Apparently he didn't go well with the factor of death. You nod slowly, giving him an awkward pat on the shoulder. "I know, but look at it this way. Less assholes to kill and to run from, right?"

He didn't respond right away, but he eventually nodded and looked down. You realized you may have said the wrong thing, and you sigh under your breath, laying out on your sleeping bag. Gamzee got the hint, and he went over to his own, sliding into it and almost instantly falling asleep as soon as his head hit the floor. That left you alone to keep watch, and so you did, that is, until your eyes couldn't take it anymore. You put out the fire and laid down in your sleeping bag, soon falling asleep.

/

_The surroundings, the smell of blood in the air. You knew it all too well. You were floating in a black void, blood covering your shirt. A rainbow of shades. From your mutated __candy-red__ blood that you had in your dreams, and then more, going in order of shades to __maroon__, to __bronze__, to __gold__, to __olive__, to __jade__, to __teal__, to __cobalt__, then some sort of __navy__ color, then a dark__ indigo__, a __royal purple__, and __fuchsia__. You were coated in it for some reason, then you averted your gaze from your clothes and to the floor, where you gasped with wide eyes, bringing a ashen gray hand to your mouth._

_Twelve bodies lay out in front of you. You recognized them all. Sollux, your older brother. Nepeta, your younger sister. Terezi, your older sister. Vriska, your District partner. Feferi, a girl from District 4 that Eridan had a thing for. Speaking of him, he was also among the mess. Equius and Kanaya, the tributes from District 2, were also in the strewn mass of bodies laying at your feet. Then the kid in the wheelchair, the one Gamzee had stood up for, was also laying there, bronze colored blood leaking out of a wound in his stomach. Gamzee was also laying dead, his respective indigo blood leaking out of him, from a wound you couldn't see. Then Aradia, another tribute from a District you couldn't remember. And, someone who surprised you the most of all. Yourself. You were laying in the middle, blood leaking from your head and from a stab wound that shot straight through your heart. You-yourself, I mean-took several, frightened steps back, sunken yellow eyes wide with fear. Then, they started getting up, one by one. You first, then Aradia, the boy in the wheelchair, who you figured out to be Tavros, then Sollux, Nepeta, Kanaya, Terezi, Vriska, Gamzee, Eridan, and Feferi. All of their heads hung down, and then they shot straight back up in sync, looking at you with grinning eyes. Blood dripped down each of the twelve's faces, and you let out a whimper. This nightmare could've been the worst yet._

_Then, it got weirder. Suddenly, they all had weapons-you with two sickles, Aradia with a long leather whip, Tavros with a lance, Sollux with his bow and arrows, Nepeta had these claws on, Kanaya with a chainsaw, Terezi with her cane and a sword, Vriska with her throwing knives, Equius, also with a bow and a pack of arrows, Gamzee, who possessed two clubs, Eridan with his harpoon gun, and Feferi with a two-sided trident. They all started to advance on you, creepy smiles lighting up their faces. The ones you knew the best out of the twelve came up-Sollux, Nepeta, Terezi, Gamzee, and you. Sollux and Nepeta shoved you to your knees and held you in place. Terezi and Gamzee came up behind you and restrained your legs and arms. You came up-the bloodied, maimed you, anyway. The sickles were in their hands, and you watched as the hooked blades curled around your neck, feeling the sharpness graze your skin. Your copied version of yourself laughed distortedly, and the rest joined in unison. Your imitation looked down at you and grinned widely as the grip of the sickles tightened around your neck._

"_Goodbye, fuckass."_

_Then, you heard two distinct voices calling your name…and calling…and calling…and you felt this sharp pain around your neck, the sickles constricting, then you lost sight, then feeling…then breathing…the voices became louder, and louder, and-_

"Kar w-wake the fuck up!"

Your eyes shot open and you let out a scream, slapping the nearest face-which in fact happened to be Eridan, who leapt back and let out a surprised yelp, rubbing his cheek. "Ow-w!"

You sat up, panting, eyes wide, shoulders shaking, every breath racking your body. Gamzee didn't speak, and looked at you full of concern. He was kneeling next to you, his hand on your shoulder. "Karkat…you okay?" He spoke carefully, as if each word could damage you.

You managed to swallow and nod, but that was all you could do. Gamzee noticed the discomfort in your eyes and he slowly enveloped you in a hug, patting your back with reassurance. You tensed in his arms, not used to this form of contact from strangers, but you forced yourself to relax. You did not want to offend him-yes, for once in your life, you didn't feel like offending a total fucking stranger. After a few long seconds, you both pulled away, nodding at each other awkwardly, then you glanced at Eridan, who was pouting and still rubbing his cheek.

"Sorry, shithead. Next time, if I'm screaming my ass off in my sleep, you know not to get your face so fucking close to mine. Seriously, common sense."

"…Yeah, w-whatev-ver."

"C'mon guys, we really need to start all up and moving. Karkat here may have alerted some people, and they could be on their motherfucking way."

Shit. Your yelling in your sleep probably did raise some flags, Gamzee was absolutely right. So this guy actually had some sense? You didn't expect that. But after everything so far, anything's possible.

You shuddered, not being able to brush off your dream like you were able to before. But eventually you regained your composure, then you stood up, clapping your hands.

"Okay. Let's get fucking packing. Leave no trace whatsoever."

Your comrades nodded at you, and you nodded in return. You rolled up your sleeping bag and shoved it into your backpack while the others were taking down the tents. You picked up the cold sticks from the fire and tossed them far in different directions, stomping the ashes deep into the dirt, and the others put up their own sleeping bags, putting everything that belonged to them in their packs. After everything was packed and it didn't seem anyone was here at all, the three of you set out once more, moving quickly, and having a breakfast of beef jerky and some of the dried fruit as you walked.

After what felt like a few hours, you stopped in your tracks, tensed. Gamzee noticed the change in the sounds of footsteps, and looked back at you, he too stopping. Eridan stopped last, and they both looked back at you confusedly.

"W-Why did you fuckin' stop? You can't be tired already!"

You growled and put a finger to your lips, making a quick _Shhhh!_ Sound before you looked around cautiously, then you froze, your breath hitching. Something was moving among the canopy, and next thing you knew, an arrow whizzed past your ear and stuck straight in the trunk of a tree several feet away with a _thunk!_

"Run!" You shouted as a throwing knife came at your face, and you ducked, it hitting another tree. The three of you broke into a run without hesitation, the attackers in hot pursuit. And the attackers, of course, were Careers, and there were six of them. Soon, you felt this hot, fiery pain in your left leg and you stumbled, hitting the floor with a struggled yell. You grunted and looked back at your leg-a throwing knife was caught deep into your calf. Looking slightly up, you saw someone who you would not mind slicing a hand off of or two.

Vriska Serket ran up to you, grinning, and aiming another knife at your face. "Sayonara, Karcrab!" She smirked, then yelped as she was bowled aside by none other than Gamzee, who's face was cross with anger. He didn't seem to have any weapons on him at this point, so he went to the option of grabbing her throat and pinning her arms down with his knees, starting to choke her. "You motherfucking disgrace!" He snapped at her.

You managed to sit up and watch with wide eyes at Gamzee's newfound savageness. You shook off your shock and grabbed the handle of the throwing knife Serket had buried into you, and you ripped the knife out with a yell, then you tossed the bloody weapon aside, forcing yourself to stand and duck as you saw a harpoon spear fly over your head and stab into one of the attacker's chest, who had been coming up behind you with a mace in their hands. Eridan just couldn't get enough of saving your pathetic ass, could he? Apparently the both of them couldn't.

"Gamzee watch it!" You yell, forcing yourself to lunge forward, into the legs of a female tribute, and knock her over as she was starting to come up behind Gamzee with a trident. You took your sickles from your pockets and pressed the helpful buttons on the handles, and the blades shot out straight, then curved into their crescent-shaped selves. You pinned the girl under your weight-which wasn't much at all-and growled curses at her as you curled your sickles around her neck, not realizing who exactly it was until Eridan yelled, "No, Kar! Don't hurt her!"

You raised an eyebrow as you looked over your shoulder at him, then you looked back down at the girl and gasped, biting your lip. "…Feferi?" You questioned with a hint of a growl. The girl-Feferi-nodded, sadness in her eyes. "I'm so glubbing sorry…" She frowned. "I-I don't want to reely hurt anyone here…" She looked down. "P-Please don't cull me…not yet, anyways…"

You were about to reply, until you heard a strangled, female scream and a male grunt of displeasure, and the sound of a body making impact with the ground. Vriska had gotten out of Gamzee's death hold somehow, and she was coughing and sputtering, her face a bit green around the edges, eyes wide, chest heaving. Gamzee was on the floor, grabbing over his shoulder, and you could see what he was grabbing at-a knife jutting out of his lower back.

Vriska stood up and bolted off without another word, running quickly and escaping, leaving five and your group of three.

After a long moment's decision, you released Feferi and let her stand as you got up as well, and in return, she turned and attacked one of the Careers attacking Eridan, fighting alongside her District partner. You may have just gotten an addition to your "team". But never mind about that, you have someone to tend to.

You crawled over to Gamzee, narrowing dodging a few flying arrows, and you set your hands upon his back. He jerked his head towards you, then relaxed a bit. "Oh, it's just you, brother…heheheh, aaaaahhhhh…" He grimaced at the pain in his lower back, and you took it upon yourself to grip the knife handle to pull it out.

"This'll only hurt for a second…and then it will probably feel like fucking hell."

You rip the knife out of your friend-yes, you've taken it upon yourself to call him so-and clap a hand over his mouth to smother his scream. Gamzee quickly calms down, wincing from the pain, but he seemed a bit better. You remove your hand, and he nods, swallowing. "Thank you."

You simply nod and help him up, handing him the mace from one of the fallen attackers. He gives you a look of surprise, and you snap, "You have to fight with something other than your fucking hands!"

He blinks, then nods, gripping the handle tightly, and the both of you charge forward with weapons in your hands. Two of the others had run off, so there was two left-Feferi and Eridan had taken one down. You lunge at a male tribute, who happened to be Abel-the fucker who had tried to kill Eridan-and hook your sickles around his throat, constricting, threatening to decapitate him. He simply started making coughing and gagging noises, and he was trying to reach up at you to shove you away, but Eridan was behind him, holding back his hands. Someone wanted revenge, you thought. Then you realized this was the tactic the dream version of you used to try and kill you.

That was the wrong time to think of that, because you froze, and your grip relaxed, shuddering at the thought.

"_Goodbye, fuckass."_

Those last words before you died…oh shit.

Abel had broken loose from Eridan's hold, and he had thrown you to the ground, grabbing your throat with his hands. You snap out of your daze long enough to see what was happening, and you tried to slice at him-only you had no weapons in your hands. Your scarlet red sickles were strewn across the forest floor, just out of reach.

Abel grinned malevolently, starting to strangle you. A deep wound was wrapped around his neck and bleeding. How could he be this tough and determined to kill you when he was bleeding his life out? You didn't have time to think about that, you were trying to fight for your life. Gamzee, Feferi, and Eridan were fighting off two more invaders-the ones that had run off. So there was three fighting, and then Abel choking the life out of you.

Your vision was tunneling, going black around the edges. So far, about two minutes without oxygen. Two minutes left, you approximated. Everything was echo-like around you. Your struggling was going weak. Two and a half minutes. Soon you'd black out, and probably die.

You couldn't die here. You had a family to return to. Nepeta, Terezi, Sollux, your mother…and you just couldn't let your father down like that.

You eyelids were growing heavy. You struggled to keep them open, to live. Then, you succumbed involuntarily, passing out. You could faintly feel Abel's hands manhandling your neck, and you were sure there would be pretty bad bruising.

Not that it mattered. Here you were, dying. Possibly dead now. You had no way of knowing, and plus, you're unconscious. Just relax, Karkat, everything will be okay. So what, you're dying? Your life was pointless as it is. At least you died fighting.

At least you died trying.

**It's not what you think! ;A; I could never have the nerve to kill Karkles off!**

**Or maybe not. Heheheh.**

**Sorry to leave it at a cliffhanger. Again, I will take this down if requested. This took me quite a bit, considering my computer's really bitchy and I keep having to switch computers and going places and ugh. I hope you liked this chapter, and if there's any kind of mistake that I just didn't catch, feel free to tell me. I'm really tired here. –w- Well, thanks for reading! Chapter Eight may be up soon. If it's okay. ^-^;**


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